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Miles Okazaki: Figurations
by Mark F. Turner
Figurations is the final release in Miles Okazaki's three volume compositional cycle. Its trajectory is based on forward-thinking ideas Okazaki began on his self-produced 2006 debut Mirror, and continued on the nearly sixty-minute Generations (Sunnyside, 2009), which was recorded in the studio in one take. While no less demanding, this recording was commissioned and performed in front of a live and appreciative audience at New York's Jazz Gallery.Methodical yet emotive, there are manifold ideas and theories swirling in ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki: Generations
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Generations, Miles Okazaki's second CD, displays the ornate structural latticework and solid foundation of a highly skilled conceptual architect. As a guitarist his tone is taut and balanced across the full range of the instrument, full of rhythmic and melodic nuance. Okazaki also shows thoughtfulness and creativity as a composer and bandleader, assembling a close-knit group of skilled colleagues and providing a conceptual and thematic framework that elicits exquisite contributions from all the players. This music resides at the crossroads ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki: Generations
by AAJ Italy Staff
Squadra che vince non si cambia, o quasi. Miles Okazaki - chitarrista americano, classe '74, proveniente da una famiglia dedita alle arti visive - dopo il convincente debutto da leader intitolato Mirror dà alle stampe Generations, registrato in un'unica take e ideale prosecuzione del suo discorso compositivo che unisce tecnica, fantasia e intraprendenza. Via gli elementi elettronici e stesso ensemble del lavoro precedente: retroguardia ritmica di livello assoluto composta da Jon Flaugher e Dan Weiss, splendido tridente offensivo con gli ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki: Generations
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Myriad ideas collide and interact on Miles Okazaki's follow-up to Mirror: his latest offering, Generations. These ideas span not only musical forms and concepts but also cultures--from Indian to European and American. The music also leaps across various artistic disciplines--philosophical, mathematical and visual--to render one central ostensible idea: that all sound is an experience shaped by the tangible and intangible in both an infinite and finite measure of time and space. Generations is a series of songs ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki: Mirror
by Budd Kopman
For many people, jazz represents in music the fulcrum of the scale that balances the attraction between body and mind. This continuum allows for a “big tent" approach, whereby one can find a place that is comfortable and expand out if one desires. Mirror, guitarist Miles Okazaki's self-produced debut release, has all the markings of a deeply searching, highly emotional musician whose music nevertheless is the natural outgrowth of an intellectual curiosity that encompasses many fields, including ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki at the Jazz Gallery
by Budd Kopman
Miles OkazakiJazz GalleryNew York, NYThursday, April 12, 2007 The Jazz Gallery is a small place which offers the audience intimacy in a low key setting. Although Miles Okazaki's album Mirror has been available for a while, this gig was for its official release. The lineup is basically the same as the album, except that Morgan replaces Jon Flaugher. The combination of three high-pitched woodwinds is a bit unusual, but Knoche played ...
Continue ReadingTake Five With Miles Okazaki
by AAJ Staff
Meet Miles Okazaki:Miles Okazaki lives in Brooklyn, where he plays guitar, writes music, and draws pictures.Instrument:GuitarTeachers and/or influences?Teachers: Rodney Jones, Ganesh Kumar, Michael Townsend, Steve Coleman, my fellow musicians and friends.Influences: It's a hard question...right now I will say, Melody: J.S. Bach, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Milton Nascimento, Beatles, Nikhil Banerjee, Ornette Coleman; Harmony: Thelonious Monk, J.S. Bach (again), Messaien, Bartok, Coltrane, Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, ...
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